Profiles of the Environmental Justice Movement

The following profiles illustrate some of the struggles taking place across the nation in an effort to bring an end to environmental injustice.

Lucky Devlin, Boston, MA
Lucky Devlin is a devoted great-grandmother whose roots in South Boston go back four generations. She first became concerned about the oil plant adjacent to her backyard as a mother in the late 1970s, when she examined the laundry that she had hung out to dry and noticed that it was peppered with holes from the ash that the power plant produced. Later she noticed similar pockmarks on the cars parked around the block, and concluded that if the oil and ash debris was eating away at iron, it could only be having negative health effects on her family and neighbors. Taking into account the high numbers of premature illnesses and deaths on her block, Devlin put two and two together and called Boston Edison. When the company balked at discussing any ill effects, she worked with a local community health center to bring in experts who could help the community educate itself about the side effects of the coal ash that fell around the neighborhood. The doctors at the health center discovered that neighborhood residents had higher than average incidence of lung cancer, cardiovascular and skin diseases, and higher hospitalization rates. Finally Devlin and other South Boston residents, working with elected officials and state agencies, successfully forced Boston Edison to convert its fuel source from oil to gas, which took five years. Since then Devlin has taken on and sought public investigation of other companies in the 1.5 mile industrial strip next to her home, including an oil depot that spilled into the streets and the water reserve channels, and getting the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to conduct the nation’s largest asbestos removal and an abandoned coal-burning power plant. She has worked tirelessly to get the corporations to be good neighbors to South Boston residents and to take responsibility for their actions by not violating environmental laws in the first place. Devlin is determined to continue her work and hopes that the next generation will be able to enjoy clean soil, grass, and air.

Alida Hernandez, San Jose, California
Worker exposure to toxic chemicals isn’t ten times worse than community exposure — it’s a thousand times worse – a reality Alida Hernandez of San Jose, California knows all too well. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforce standards to protect workers, however, these standards are typically much weaker than environmental standards for the same chemicals, like benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE), percloroethylene, and glycol ethers, and don’t effectively protect workers against chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive harm. When Hernandez worked as a chemical handler at an IBM “Clean Room” from 1979 to 1991, she was told that her job was safe because exposures at IBM were well below OSHA limits. She learned the hard way that “clean” doesn’t mean safe, and OSHA standards are no protection against cancer. Hernandez is happy to be alive after her struggle with breast cancer, and knows many former coworkers who didn’t survive their chemical jobs. Her concerns go beyond preventing cancer in workers and reducing exposures on the job — she is also concerned with preventing birth defects and childhood cancer in the children of chemical workers. The matriarch of a close-knit family, Hernandez has also experienced the impact on an entire family when a child is sick. Recently, her infant great-granddaughter was diagnosed with kidney cancer and has spent months in the hospital. The family calls her their “million dollar baby,” because more than $1,000,000 has gone towards her life-saving treatment. Hernandez is an activist for the chemical policy reform movement in California, and spokesperson for WORKSAFE!, a California coalition for worker occupational safety and health protection.

Sheila Holt, Dickson, Tennessee
For five generations Shelia Holt-Orsted’s family has lived in the historically-black community of Eno Road in Dickson, TN. In April 2003 Sheila was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her father has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, her mother has cervical polyps, and other family members have experienced health problems such as stomach polyps, gastrointestinal disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, speech impediments and chronic skin rashes. Yet in 1988 when toxic industrial waste leaked into the Holt family wells, state and federal government officials assured the family that their water was safe. Today, the Holt family is fighting back not only for their own health and the health of future generations, but also to expose the dual standards at play in Dickson county when it comes to protecting citizens from the impact of toxic waste. Although Dickson County is only 4.5 percent black, the city and county singled out the small rural, mostly black Eno Road community to locate their garbage dumps, landfills, transfer stations, and toxic waste for nearly six decades. The leaky landfill is just 54 feet from the Holt family property line. In 2003, the Holt family filed a lawsuit against Dickson City and Dickson County alleging that toxic waste at the county landfill poisoned their well water and caused cancer and other chronic illnesses in their family. The suit was filed on behalf of 11 members of the family and seeks unspecified damages from Saltire Industrial Inc. for negligently disposing of toxic waste at the Dickerson landfill. The suit also alleges that the city of Dickson and county officials knew that hazardous waste buried at the landfill was seeping into the ground water, and failed to warn residents who live nearby. In November 2004, Dickson County Circuit Court Judge George Sexton ruled that a racial discrimination amendment could be added to the Holt family’s complaint involving the toxic poisoning of their well water.

Hilton Kelley, Port Arthur, Texas
Hilton Kelley, a native to Port Arthur, Texas, was shocked to return to his hometown in southeastern Texas after two decades in Northern California working as a Hollywood stuntman. Port Arthur is located in the heart of “Gasoline Alley,” home to four international oil refineries, and some of the dirtiest air in the nation. Oil refineries, which release a dangerous mix of toxins, are known to be harmful to human health. Port Arthur is also about 90% African American, with a 13.5% unemployment rate and no new jobs moving into the area, and nearly a quarter of its residents living at or below the poverty level. Six years ago, upon his return to Port Arthur, Kelley founded Community In-power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA Inc.), in an effort to improve the quality of life for those in Port Arthur by first working to improve the quality of the environment, as a way of enticing other industry and business. CIDA has been active in the Refinery Reform Campaign’s Bucket Brigade Program, which provides community residents with a simple tool to measure the toxic emissions from nearby oil refineries. In September of 2005, Kelley was working to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees find clothing, shelter, and food, until he was forced to close up the CIDA community center and his home along with other Port Arthur residents, to head north with friends and family to escape Hurricane Rita. Kelley left his home, and led a nine-car caravan of family and friends, ranging in age from 9 months to 84 years old on a difficult journey through traffic exoduses, power shortages and road damage, and dangerous weather conditions. When Kelley returned to Port Arthur, he found his home spared, unlike many others, though the newly renovated CIDA community center sustained major damage. For Kelley, there was never any question about returning home and rebuilding. Today, Kelley remains active in speaking out and working to impact environmental policies that affect Port Arthur. Kelley and fellow activists have successfully reduced gas flaring limits for local refineries, and stopped the expansion of chemical plants in fence line communities, but there is more work to be done. Kelley also remains committed to repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Rita, hoping to restore CIDA’s community center as a resource for evacuees who are returning to Port Arthur and an environmental education center to those living on the fence-line of toxic facilities in the area.

Arameta Porter, Anniston, Alabama
School teacher Arameta Porter of Anniston, Alabama was simply taking out her recycling one day, when a heavy gust of wind from the hurricanes that commonly pass through the area, caused her to stumble and loose her balance. Fifteen minutes later, Porter experienced an exploding noise in her ears, tingling throughout her body, a strange feeling in her eyes, tense muscles, and difficulty breathing. She laid down, her face twitching, and began to vomit. Emergency room doctors diagnosed her with a stroke, and prescribed therapy, but therapists found her symptoms inconsistent with a stroke. Porter began to study reports of a Sarin nerve agent leak at the nearby Army depot, where thousands of tons of outdated but deadly chemical munitions are stored. To date, the disposal of these chemical agents occur through incineration, though there are alternate methods of getting rid of chemical agents that are safer and more effective. Though the Army claims that only traces of the agent were leaked, but Porter’s personal investigations clearly showed otherwise. The incinerator complex, located in west Anniston, where a majority of the 75,000 resident who live downwind are African American and poor and working class white families, has been burning weapons everyday, around the clock, since August 2003, exposing citizens to a constant emission of dioxins, furans, PCBs, heavy metals, vinyl chloride, acetone, benzene, trace amounts of nerve gas, and hundreds of other deadly toxins. In fact, some west Anniston resident have the highest concentrations of PCB pollution in their bloodstream of anyone ever tested anywhere, and Anniston is the only American community where a civilian population has ever received gas masks. Porter eventually retired from her job as her conditions worsened and certain sensory overloads would trigger facial spasms, speechlessness, and temporary blindness. Activists and citizens in Anniston are not asking for the chemical weapons to be moved elsewhere, they are simply demanding justice; maximum protection from lethal chemical agents, and the prevention of another story like Arameta Porter’s.

Ed Wiley, Sundial, West Virginia
Ed Wiley, a former coal mine worker, began the fight against environmental injustice in Sundial, WV after picking his granddaughter up from school, sick, three days in a row. The school she attended at the time, Marsh Fork Elementary School is located just 200 feet from a 165-foot-high coal silo; 250 yards from a preparation plant that uses chemical scrubbers; and 400 yards from a 380-foot slate constructed coal waste dam which holds back 2.8 billions gallons of toxic sludge and coal waste. Children who attend Marsh Fork Elementary have had a host of health effects, such as asthma, respiratory problems, frequent sinus and ear infections, headaches, and skin discoloration. Three teachers and a 17-year-old former student have also died of cancer in recent years. Activists in Sundial began collecting pennies, including a large donation from school children in New York, to raise money for a new school in Sundial. In August 2006, Wiley will depart on a one-month, 455-mile walk from Charleston, West Virginia to Washington DC, to draw attention to the situation in Sundial, meet with West Virginia senators in DC, and raise money for a new school for the children at Marsh Fork. For Wiley, the issue is no longer only about his granddaughter, or the children in Sundial, but all the children of Appalachia who are the unfortunate victims of the coal mining industry and environmental injustice in West Virginia.

LaDonna Williams, People For Children's Health & Environmental Justice, Pinole, California

LaDonna Williams, Executive Director of People for Childrenís Health & Environmental Justice became an environmental justice, community and environmental health advocate in 1991 when it was discovered that her former community Midway Village in Daly City, CA, was built directly on top of a known superfund site and contaminated with over 350 superfund toxic hazardous chemicals that belonged to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. In 1991 when men in bubble suits appeared at Midway, LaDonna discovered her families' illnesses and deaths were directly connected to the 10 years of exposures of over 350 hazardous toxic chemicals belonging to PG&E that were placed in their living environment. LaDonna’s diligent research also discovered PG&E, agencies and elected officials all had previous knowledge of the site being contaminated but failed to inform residents and the public. She took action by returning to her former community, informing, organizing and educating current and former residents of the real threat to their lives, health, and environment. She took further action by getting involved with Federal, and State EPA, becoming a member of CEJAC(California Environmental Justice Advisory Committee), California Environmental Health Tracking Consortium, CALFED, and the California Fish Mercury Project, to help guide, affect policy changes, to prevent environmental and health injustices, so that Environmental Justice is a part of every aspect of the decisions, and actions taken affecting our health and communities — especially those of low-income and color who lack adequate representation.
LaDonna continues to work on relocation and compensation for Midway residents (both current & former) who have suffered immeasurable damages resulting from the accepted practices of Environmental Racism and Injustice from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and all responsible parties. She has traveled to Louisiana, Boston, Atlanta, and Vieques, Puerto Rico, to highlight Environment Justice/Racism practices negatively affecting people of color and low-income, holding accountable agencies, elected officials, and business allowing and practicing unimaginable and irresponsible acts of Environmental Racism that have resulted in cancers, chronic illnesses, DNA damage and death that were so preventable.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Ateqah Khaki, Riptide Communications
212-260-5000.

		Profiles of the Environmental Justice Movement The following profiles illustrate some of the struggles taking place across the nation in an effort to bring an end to environmental injustice. Lucky Devlin, Boston, MA Lucky Devlin is a devoted great-grandmother whose roots in South Boston go back four generations. She first became concerned about the oil plant adjacent to her backyard as a mother in the late 1970s, when she examined the laundry that she had hung out to dry and noticed that it was peppered with holes from the ash that the power plant produced. Later she noticed similar pockmarks on the cars parked around the block, and concluded that if the oil and ash debris was eating away at iron, it could only be having negative health effects on her family and neighbors. Taking into account the high numbers of premature illnesses and deaths on her block, Devlin put two and two together and called Boston Edison. When the company balked at discussing any ill effects, she worked with a local community health center to bring in experts who could help the community educate itself about the side effects of the coal ash that fell around the neighborhood. The doctors at the health center discovered that neighborhood residents had higher than average incidence of lung cancer, cardiovascular and skin diseases, and higher hospitalization rates. Finally Devlin and other South Boston residents, working with elected officials and state agencies, successfully forced Boston Edison to convert its fuel source from oil to gas, which took five years. Since then Devlin has taken on and sought public investigation of other companies in the 1.5 mile industrial strip next to her home, including an oil depot that spilled into the streets and the water reserve channels, and getting the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to conduct the nation’s largest asbestos removal and an abandoned coal-burning power plant. She has worked tirelessly to get the corporations to be good neighbors to South Boston residents and to take responsibility for their actions by not violating environmental laws in the first place. Devlin is determined to continue her work and hopes that the next generation will be able to enjoy clean soil, grass, and air. Alida Hernandez, San Jose, California Worker exposure to toxic chemicals isn’t ten times worse than community exposure — it’s a thousand times worse – a reality Alida Hernandez of San Jose, California knows all too well. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforce standards to protect workers, however, these standards are typically much weaker than environmental standards for the same chemicals, like benzene, trichloroethylene (TCE), percloroethylene, and glycol ethers, and don’t effectively protect workers against chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive harm. When Hernandez worked as a chemical handler at an IBM “Clean Room” from 1979 to 1991, she was told that her job was safe because exposures at IBM were well below OSHA limits. She learned the hard way that “clean” doesn’t mean safe, and OSHA standards are no protection against cancer. Hernandez is happy to be alive after her struggle with breast cancer, and knows many former coworkers who didn’t survive their chemical jobs. Her concerns go beyond preventing cancer in workers and reducing exposures on the job — she is also concerned with preventing birth defects and childhood cancer in the children of chemical workers. The matriarch of a close-knit family, Hernandez has also experienced the impact on an entire family when a child is sick. Recently, her infant great-granddaughter was diagnosed with kidney cancer and has spent months in the hospital. The family calls her their “million dollar baby,” because more than $1,000,000 has gone towards her life-saving treatment. Hernandez is an activist for the chemical policy reform movement in California, and spokesperson for WORKSAFE!, a California coalition for worker occupational safety and health protection. Sheila Holt, Dickson, Tennessee For five generations Shelia Holt-Orsted’s family has lived in the historically-black community of Eno Road in Dickson, TN. In April 2003 Sheila was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her father has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, her mother has cervical polyps, and other family members have experienced health problems such as stomach polyps, gastrointestinal disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, speech impediments and chronic skin rashes. Yet in 1988 when toxic industrial waste leaked into the Holt family wells, state and federal government officials assured the family that their water was safe. Today, the Holt family is fighting back not only for their own health and the health of future generations, but also to expose the dual standards at play in Dickson county when it comes to protecting citizens from the impact of toxic waste. Although Dickson County is only 4.5 percent black, the city and county singled out the small rural, mostly black Eno Road community to locate their garbage dumps, landfills, transfer stations, and toxic waste for nearly six decades. The leaky landfill is just 54 feet from the Holt family property line. In 2003, the Holt family filed a lawsuit against Dickson City and Dickson County alleging that toxic waste at the county landfill poisoned their well water and caused cancer and other chronic illnesses in their family. The suit was filed on behalf of 11 members of the family and seeks unspecified damages from Saltire Industrial Inc. for negligently disposing of toxic waste at the Dickerson landfill. The suit also alleges that the city of Dickson and county officials knew that hazardous waste buried at the landfill was seeping into the ground water, and failed to warn residents who live nearby. In November 2004, Dickson County Circuit Court Judge George Sexton ruled that a racial discrimination amendment could be added to the Holt family’s complaint involving the toxic poisoning of their well water. Hilton Kelley, Port Arthur, Texas Hilton Kelley, a native to Port Arthur, Texas, was shocked to return to his hometown in southeastern Texas after two decades in Northern California working as a Hollywood stuntman. Port Arthur is located in the heart of “Gasoline Alley,” home to four international oil refineries, and some of the dirtiest air in the nation. Oil refineries, which release a dangerous mix of toxins, are known to be harmful to human health. Port Arthur is also about 90% African American, with a 13.5% unemployment rate and no new jobs moving into the area, and nearly a quarter of its residents living at or below the poverty level. Six years ago, upon his return to Port Arthur, Kelley founded Community In-power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA Inc.), in an effort to improve the quality of life for those in Port Arthur by first working to improve the quality of the environment, as a way of enticing other industry and business. CIDA has been active in the Refinery Reform Campaign’s Bucket Brigade Program, which provides community residents with a simple tool to measure the toxic emissions from nearby oil refineries. In September of 2005, Kelley was working to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees find clothing, shelter, and food, until he was forced to close up the CIDA community center and his home along with other Port Arthur residents, to head north with friends and family to escape Hurricane Rita. Kelley left his home, and led a nine-car caravan of family and friends, ranging in age from 9 months to 84 years old on a difficult journey through traffic exoduses, power shortages and road damage, and dangerous weather conditions. When Kelley returned to Port Arthur, he found his home spared, unlike many others, though the newly renovated CIDA community center sustained major damage. For Kelley, there was never any question about returning home and rebuilding. Today, Kelley remains active in speaking out and working to impact environmental policies that affect Port Arthur. Kelley and fellow activists have successfully reduced gas flaring limits for local refineries, and stopped the expansion of chemical plants in fence line communities, but there is more work to be done. Kelley also remains committed to repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Rita, hoping to restore CIDA’s community center as a resource for evacuees who are returning to Port Arthur and an environmental education center to those living on the fence-line of toxic facilities in the area. Arameta Porter, Anniston, Alabama School teacher Arameta Porter of Anniston, Alabama was simply taking out her recycling one day, when a heavy gust of wind from the hurricanes that commonly pass through the area, caused her to stumble and loose her balance. Fifteen minutes later, Porter experienced an exploding noise in her ears, tingling throughout her body, a strange feeling in her eyes, tense muscles, and difficulty breathing. She laid down, her face twitching, and began to vomit. Emergency room doctors diagnosed her with a stroke, and prescribed therapy, but therapists found her symptoms inconsistent with a stroke. Porter began to study reports of a Sarin nerve agent leak at the nearby Army depot, where thousands of tons of outdated but deadly chemical munitions are stored. To date, the disposal of these chemical agents occur through incineration, though there are alternate methods of getting rid of chemical agents that are safer and more effective. Though the Army claims that only traces of the agent were leaked, but Porter’s personal investigations clearly showed otherwise. The incinerator complex, located in west Anniston, where a majority of the 75,000 resident who live downwind are African American and poor and working class white families, has been burning weapons everyday, around the clock, since August 2003, exposing citizens to a constant emission of dioxins, furans, PCBs, heavy metals, vinyl chloride, acetone, benzene, trace amounts of nerve gas, and hundreds of other deadly toxins. In fact, some west Anniston resident have the highest concentrations of PCB pollution in their bloodstream of anyone ever tested anywhere, and Anniston is the only American community where a civilian population has ever received gas masks. Porter eventually retired from her job as her conditions worsened and certain sensory overloads would trigger facial spasms, speechlessness, and temporary blindness. Activists and citizens in Anniston are not asking for the chemical weapons to be moved elsewhere, they are simply demanding justice; maximum protection from lethal chemical agents, and the prevention of another story like Arameta Porter’s. Ed Wiley, Sundial, West Virginia Ed Wiley, a former coal mine worker, began the fight against environmental injustice in Sundial, WV after picking his granddaughter up from school, sick, three days in a row. The school she attended at the time, Marsh Fork Elementary School is located just 200 feet from a 165-foot-high coal silo; 250 yards from a preparation plant that uses chemical scrubbers; and 400 yards from a 380-foot slate constructed coal waste dam which holds back 2.8 billions gallons of toxic sludge and coal waste. Children who attend Marsh Fork Elementary have had a host of health effects, such as asthma, respiratory problems, frequent sinus and ear infections, headaches, and skin discoloration. Three teachers and a 17-year-old former student have also died of cancer in recent years. Activists in Sundial began collecting pennies, including a large donation from school children in New York, to raise money for a new school in Sundial. In August 2006, Wiley will depart on a one-month, 455-mile walk from Charleston, West Virginia to Washington DC, to draw attention to the situation in Sundial, meet with West Virginia senators in DC, and raise money for a new school for the children at Marsh Fork. For Wiley, the issue is no longer only about his granddaughter, or the children in Sundial, but all the children of Appalachia who are the unfortunate victims of the coal mining industry and environmental injustice in West Virginia. LaDonna Williams, People For Children's Health & Environmental Justice, Pinole, California LaDonna Williams, Executive Director of People for Childrenís Health & Environmental Justice became an environmental justice, community and environmental health advocate in 1991 when it was discovered that her former community Midway Village in Daly City, CA, was built directly on top of a known superfund site and contaminated with over 350 superfund toxic hazardous chemicals that belonged to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. In 1991 when men in bubble suits appeared at Midway, LaDonna discovered her families' illnesses and deaths were directly connected to the 10 years of exposures of over 350 hazardous toxic chemicals belonging to PG&E that were placed in their living environment. LaDonna’s diligent research also discovered PG&E, agencies and elected officials all had previous knowledge of the site being contaminated but failed to inform residents and the public. She took action by returning to her former community, informing, organizing and educating current and former residents of the real threat to their lives, health, and environment. She took further action by getting involved with Federal, and State EPA, becoming a member of CEJAC(California Environmental Justice Advisory Committee), California Environmental Health Tracking Consortium, CALFED, and the California Fish Mercury Project, to help guide, affect policy changes, to prevent environmental and health injustices, so that Environmental Justice is a part of every aspect of the decisions, and actions taken affecting our health and communities — especially those of low-income and color who lack adequate representation. LaDonna continues to work on relocation and compensation for Midway residents (both current & former) who have suffered immeasurable damages resulting from the accepted practices of Environmental Racism and Injustice from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and all responsible parties. She has traveled to Louisiana, Boston, Atlanta, and Vieques, Puerto Rico, to highlight Environment Justice/Racism practices negatively affecting people of color and low-income, holding accountable agencies, elected officials, and business allowing and practicing unimaginable and irresponsible acts of Environmental Racism that have resulted in cancers, chronic illnesses, DNA damage and death that were so preventable. For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Ateqah Khaki, Riptide Communications 212-260-5000.
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